February 22, 2011

JENIN, (PIC)-- Civil servants from Israel's water authority under heavy military protection stormed at noon Monday Kafr Dan village, west of Jenin, to carry out a survey of the artesian wells as a prelude to demolishing them later.

Local sources said Israeli soldiers aboard military vehicles escorted a car belonging to the water authority to protect surveyors as they were registering and taking pictures of about 70 wells.

They added that the soldiers told farmers in the village that after this process, their wells would be flattened at the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Different West Bank areas have witnessed lately the demolition of many wells in order to deprive Palestinians of their water rights and provide Israeli settlements with more water amounts.

According to studies, Israel plunders Palestinian water resources through its control over 85 percent of the existing water in the aquifer in the West Bank, and not only that, but it also controls the amounts of water supplied to the Palestinian territories and sell them at exorbitant prices.

Israel, the most racist country in the world, uses water as a weapon against the rightful owners of land and water resources.

In a separate incident, the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) notified five Palestinian farmers from Beit Ula village, west of Al-Khalil, of its intentions to demolish their structures and buildings used for agricultural purposes.

The military order received by the farmers claimed that these buildings would be demolished because they were unlicensed and near Israel's segregation wall.